Cry for Me, Argentina!

**another chain letter I received:

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In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. While Great Britain ‘s maritime power and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant position among the world’s industrialized nations, only the United States challenged Argentina for the position of the world’s second-most powerful economy.

It was blessed with abundant agriculture, vast swaths of rich farmland laced with navigable rivers and an accessible port system. Its level of industrialization was higher than many European countries: railroads, automobiles and telephones were commonplace.

In 1916, a new president was elected. Hipólito Irigoyen had formed a party called The Radicals under the banner of “fundamental change” with an appeal to the middle class. (“Fundamental change”… now where have I heard that recently?)

Among Irigoyen’s changes: mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country’s operations and began assessing new payroll taxes to fund its efforts. (Beginning to sound more familiar?)

With an increasing flow of funds into these entitlement programs, the government’s payouts soon became overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the taxpayers’ contributions. Put simply, it quickly became under-funded, much like our Social Security and Medicare programs. (As will our Health Care and other programs!)

The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón. Perón had a fascist and corporatist upbringing; he and his charismatic wife aimed their populist rhetoric at the nation’s rich. (Sounds more and more like our current death march into total collapse!)

This targeted group “swiftly expanded to cover most of the propertied middle classes, who became an enemy to be defeated and humiliated.” (And, more!)

Under Perón, the size of government bureaucracies exploded through massive programs of social spending and by encouraging the growth of labor unions. (Do you see the light?)

High taxes and economic mismanagement took their inevitable toll even after Perón had been driven from office. But his populist rhetoric and “contempt for economic realities” lived on. Argentina’s federal government continued to spend far beyond its means. (Can’t happen here you say…Yes it Can!)

Hyperinflation exploded in 1989, the final stage of a process characterized by “industrial protectionism, redistribution of income based on increased wages, and growing state intervention in the economy…” (Will Never Happen Here…it has already begun!)

The Argentinean government’s practice of printing money to pay off its public debts had crushed the economy. Inflation hit 3000%, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic . Food riots were rampant; stores were looted; the country descended into chaos. (Impossible! Do not wait to STOP IT!!!)

And by 1994, Argentina ‘s public pensions — the equivalent of Social Security — had imploded. The payroll tax had increased from 5% to 26%, but it wasn’t enough. In addition, Argentina had implemented a value-added tax (VAT), new income taxes, a personal tax on wealth, and additional revenues based upon the sale of public enterprises. These crushed the private sector, further damaging the economy. (Can only happen in those lesser countries! No, ARGENTINA was a World power stronger than the US!)

A government-controlled “privatization” effort to rescue seniors’ pensions was attempted. But, by 2001, those funds had also been raided by the government, the monies replaced by Argentina ‘s defaulted government bonds. (Hmmmm….just what is about to happen in the US!!!)

By 2002, “…government fiscal irresponsibility… induced a national economic crisis as severe as America ‘s Great Depression.” (Will we set on our hands and let that happen again… will we?)

We’ve seen this movie before. The politician’s populist plans NEVER work, because power corrupts and government bankrupts everything it touches. For those that will listen, history shouts over and over that we cannot sustain the wild spending and government takeover of business, banking, health care, and continue to inflate unfunded entitlement programs! Like history tells us, it will be utter and complete disaster!!!

Today’s politicians are guilty of more than arrogant stupidity; they are enslaving future generations to poverty and misery. And they will be long gone when it all implodes. They will be as cold and dead as Juan Perón when your children and grand children must ultimately pay for the blind arrogance of politicians!

THINK AMERICA !

WE ARE ALLOWING POLITICIANS TO REPEAT THE FAILURES OF HISTORY!

VOTE EVERY DEMOCRAT OUT OF PUBLIC OFFICE FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS OR THE ABOVE WILL BE YOUR FATE AND MINE FOREVER!!

THINK…. AND ACT ! !

PS…. while working America cuts back… Congress just increased “government expenditures” by 12% in the “Omnibus” spending bill of nearly half a TRILLION!

Here is just one example of “Government” waste…last year there was ONE person in the entire Dept. of Transportation making over $170,000!
This year that same “Government” Dept. has 1690 people making over $170,000! They are paid over $300,000,000 of our tax dollars for what????

Is your employer, or ANY company, doing that well? NO, they’re losing their business, being forced to lay off tax-payers, and having Democrats increase their taxes.
AND, this Democrat sponsored Omnibus bill has 5,224 earmarks (totally waste-full pork-barrel pay-offs) totaling $4,000,000,000! That’s your wasted taxes and mine tossed to the wind without a single care for the hard, hard work we women (and men) put into our jobs!

Ironically Miss CA’s best answer would have been “World Peace”

Miss California - Carrie Prejean

So by now everyone has heard about the Perez Hilton/Carrie Prejean scandal.  There are three issues at work here.

1. Asking the question.
2. The answer.
3. The response to the answer.

Firstly, asking this question.  Let’s say Perez Hilton asked this “what are your personal beliefs on abortion?”  I think we would all agree that question is in appropriate.  Simularly, asking if same sex marriage should be legalized in all 50 states is also a very polorizing, highly opinion based question.  If I was Miss CA, I would have smiled, waived, and said “world peace.”

Second, the answer was actually pretty good.  She said she loves that we live in a land where people can choose.  Ok, I guess people can sort of choose because they could move to one of the states that allow same sex marriage… I do agree that same sex couples really don’t have much of a right to choose right now.  I personally think that’s a shame as we live in a country that really is supposed to be free.  Please see my previous posts on same sex marriage. So granted, that part of the answer was not spot on since the freedom for same sex couples is pretty limited right now.  None the less, she at least aknowledged that there are some options.

Then, since it was an opinion question, she gave her opinion: that marriage in her opinion was between a

Some guy... blogger I think.

man and a woman.  She did even say “I don’t want to offend anyone out there.”  She did not say anything negative about homosexual people, for all we know she has many homosexual friends.  She just commented on her personal opinion regarding marriage (which is the same opinion of Barack Obama, by the way) as she was requested to do.  I don’t see any fault there.

Thirdly the response.  This is where everyone finally is beginning to see what I have been saying for years.  Perez Hilton is nuts, crude, rude, and worse for society than MTV (and that’s saying a lot).  KEEP IN MIND, MY OPINION OF PEREZ HILTON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATION.  If he was straight, or asexual I would think exactly the same of him.  He’s a blog version of the worst types of tabloid magazine.  I think his site is a plague on culture in the same way celebrity magazines are, and in the same way MTV is.  His actions are not shocking to me at all, unfortunately.

I say this – for every minute that people want to spend reading tabloid blogs or magazines, remember the people who are dying of thirst in other countries and spend some time thinking about them, perhaps donating some money.  I’m telling you, these celebrities are a terrible distraction from very significant things that are happening in the world.  Real people need our help.

-dm

American capitalism gone with a whimper – By: Stanislav Mishin (Russia)

I received this as a chain letter email – Here’s a copy of the recent Pravda article about the disappearance of American capitalism. This is a Russian newspaper writing about what seems obvious to most of the world; yet, this country seems to be blindsided to it. The irony of this article appearing in the English edition of Pravda (Russian State Newspaper) defies description. – Bob Akins

Why so socialist?

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America .

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America ‘s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama’s command that GM’s (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of “pure” free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a “bold” move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK ‘s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our “wise” Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper…but a “freeman” whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set “fair” maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

Stanislav Mishin© 1999-2009. WWW.PRAVDA.Ru. When reproducing our materials in whole or in part, hyperlink to PRAVDA.Ru should be made.

Snopes says: The item referenced above is indeed taken from the text of an editorial entitled “American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper” by Stanislav Mishin, which was published by the Russian-language news site on 27 April 2009.

 

 

To read article from Pravda’s English news site, use this link: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/

Here’s a copy of the recent Pravda article about the disappearance of American capitalism. This is a Russian newspaper writing about what seems obvious to most of the world; yet, this country seems to be blindsided to it. The irony of this article appearing in the English edition of Pravda (Russian State Newspaper) defies description.

Fifty Years of Math 1959 – 2009 (in the USA )

This is another chain letter that was sent to me:

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Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her.. She stood there , holding the nickel and 3 pennies , while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters , but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her , she stood there and cried. Why do I tell you this? Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

1. Teaching Math In 1950s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?

2. Teaching Math In 1960s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price , o r $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1970s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

4… Teaching Math In 1980s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 1990s

A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers , and if you feel like crying , it’s ok. )

6. Teaching Math In 2009

Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?